February 17, 2002, The Philippine Star, Bush promises GMA: Balikatan will have ‘successful conclusion’, by Marichu Villanueva,

February 17, 2002, The Philippine Star, Bush promises GMA: Balikatan will have ‘successful conclusion’, by Marichu Villanueva,

As US soldiers prepare to march this weekend into the jungles of Basilan for the six-month Balikatan exercise that is fraught with risks and political conflicts, US President George W. Bush assured President Arroyo yesterday that the United States will see the training mission to its "successful conclusion." 

In a telephone call, Bush told President Arroyo that he appreciated her efforts to fight terrorism and noted that she has "made every effort" to seek the release of two Americans held hostage in Mindanao, said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. 

The Arroyo administration is still smarting from its failure to get Bush to stop by the Philippines during his three-nation Asian swing this coming week. Malacañang later said the administration would feel slighted only if Bush’s trip was related to the war on terror. But the US president was on an economic mission to Asia, Palace officials said. 

A report from Tokyo yesterday, however, said Bush planned to shore up Asian support for his war on international terrorism during his week-long visit to Japan, South Korea and China. 

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Bush called up at around 9 p.m. Friday, eve of the start of the "Balikatan 02-1" anti-terrorist training in Basilan, and talked with Mrs. Arroyo for about 10 minutes. 

"There were no major policy discussions. Mr. Bush simply wanted to (know) if there were any complaints against the American forces here about Balikatan," Tiglao told Palace reporters yesterday. 

"Mr. Bush emphasized to the President that he would want the cooperation to be very helpful to the Philippines. He wanted (to say) he would not want these military exercises (to be) any problem to the Philippines," Tiglao added. 

Mrs. Arroyo was gladdened that the president of the United States "took his time off to call her up just to check if there is any problem with the US military presence here," Tiglao said. 

Tiglao could not say whether Bush took the opportunity to apologize to Mrs. Arroyo for the controversy generated by gun-toting American soldiers in civilian clothes pictured in Zamboanga City while withdrawing money from a bank. 

But in her weekly radio-TV program "May Gloria ang Bukas Mo," Mrs. Arroyo disclosed that American authorities, without mentioning who, were "profusely" apologetic and assured Filipinos that there would not be any repeat of the incident. 

In a press statement yesterday, Tiglao also sought to clarify impressions that the US has put up permanent military bases in Basilan and Zamboanga City where the Balikatan is taking place. 

"The President would like to emphasize that she has not, and will not allow the setting up of permanent military bases in the country, which is prohibited by the Constitution unless permitted by a treaty ratified by the Senate," Tiglao pointed out. 

He specifically cited Item 1.3 of the terms of reference (TOR) of Balikatan which states that "no permanent US basing and support facilities shall be established. Temporary structures such as those for troop billeting, classroom instruction and messing may be set up for use by RP and US forces during the exercise."
On with the Balikatan
Meanwhile, the US military plans to start moving today the first of some 160 special operations troopers onto Basilan at a seaside Army camp in Barangay Tabiawan. 

The US trainers are to teach some 4,000 Filipinos in such activities as night flying, hostage rescue, intelligence analysis and the use of psychological operations against the rebels. 

They are backed by another 500 support troops remaining in Zamboanga City, the main island adjacent to tiny Basilan, and at Clark air base in Pampanga. 

Balikatan is reportedly a watered-down version of a more aggressive role proposed by the Americans, which would have brought US soldiers into the fight. The militaries of the two nations wrestled for weeks over the rules for the operation. 

Under the agreement, Americans will not engage in combat but may observe Philippine troops in combat zones. They may fire back in self-defense. 

The training in the Philippines is not new but an expansion of long-time US programs in the country. It was approved in November, two months after the Sept. 11 attacks on America, in an agreement between Mrs. Arroyo and Bush. 

The contingent in the Philippines is the largest anti-terrorist deployment from the Pentagon outside Afghanistan, where more than 4,000 troops remain. 

Local critics in the Philippines insist the new agreement violates constitutional restrictions on activities of foreign troops in the Philippines. It is a cover for rescuing American hostages, some say. 

Critics in America worry about getting into a quagmire. 

"Ghosts of Vietnam," is what Brookings Institution fellow Catherine Dalpino calls it. 

US military advisers were sent to help the South Vietnam government resist rebels supported by the communist North in 1961. Four years later American combat troops went in, and four years after that their numbers had reached 534,000.